How to become king Arthur

Chapter 9: A gift of sorts

The king lay sleeping, sleeping soundly. I stood above him for a minute in cold anger and began to make a plan. I looked at him and for the first time in my life, I truly began to think. It was a monumental moment, but also a dark and horrible moment. I knew what I had to do but doing it would change me forever.

'Some things must be done,' I thought as I walked and dunked my hand into the flower vase.

I rested my sword on his neck before dripping the cold water from my hand onto his face. He twitched for a moment , his snoring ceased and then his eyes snapped open.

"Not a word," I said quietly, "Do not say a word, nor make a sound. Now up out of bed and moved slowly towards the balcony."

The king did as he was told but with every step he was calculating what to do. I pushed him to his knees and then walked in front of him, sword at the ready. He was sweating slightly even though there was a cool breeze flowing through the night.

"How did you escape the towers?" the king whispered.

"I killed the guard watching me," I said non-chalently, "sadly the desperate to desperate things."

"You don't seem very desperate right now Ara," he spat. His face had gone pale at the loss of one of his best knights. "To be honest I didn't think you had it in you to kill Bolvier."

"I suppose I am full of surprises," I seethed.

Somehow I thought that speaking with the king would make me feel better but it was only making me feel worse. I rolled my neck and lined up my sword. I couldn't take the feelings of hatred for the man and guilt for what was to be done any longer.

"This won't make me feel better," I said honestly, "But I can't stay here. So I'm going to need something of yours."

"And what would that be?" he asked skeptically.

"Your head," I muttered before raising my sword and swinging. It came off cleanly, rolled and almost bumped into the door but I stopped it with my foot.

The body had fallen to the ground and was looking rather eerie. I pulled the king's ring from his finger and faced the head. I picked it up by the hair and walked silently back into the king's room. Well, the queen's now. She slept soundly, oblivious to what had just happened. As I grabbed the king's pillow case to shove the head and ring in I vaguely wondered what she was dreaming of.

"I'm sorry, but he wasn't a very good king anyway," I whispered. I knew they weren't very good condolences to the queen but it was the truth of the matter. Then I swiftly returned to the balcony and began to climb down.

It was a long way to the ground and it made my muscles scream in pain, sweat cover my body and mind ache but when I made it to the bottom it was worth it. I silently moved across the grounds and towards the gate. It wasn't open but it was made to keep full armoured knights out, not skinny eleven year old girls. I slipped out and into the night, it was time I made my escape.

~

I could hear the dogs behind me, horses too. People, men, were shouting curses at me. They all blended together so that they lost individual sounds and melded into a sound like drums. They matched the blood pounding in my ears. I ran as fast as I could, I had been running for two days. I zigzagged back and forth, trying to throw the dogs off of my scent.

I had learned lots through my time running. For example mud helped throw the dogs off route. That and water, they couldn't smell you the same. I was covered in mud, from head to toe, my clothes, my hair, even my face and neck were covered with mud.

I looked around, trying to find a place where the the hoses wouldn't be able to run. My eyes found a patch of fallen trees to my right, I ran for it. The branched tore at my face, blood tasted metallic on my lips and I kept running.

I had hope that it would rain soon, the clouds were dark in the sky. At least it would make the night dark, they'd have to stop to light torches and the horses could spook at anything.

My lungs burned along with my legs as I burst from the thicket. I pushed myself to run faster, they wouldn't just kill me if they caught me. The world spun past me as night began to fall.

Darkness fell quickly and so did rain. I could hear their curses as the dogs grew confused. I tried to hear what they were talking about and my foot got caught under a long. I crashed to the ground and the air rushed from my lungs. I lay there stunned for a moment and then lay still as horses thundered around. I closed my eyes and waited, all that for nothing.

Then came a miracle, a wind carried my scent away. The dogs yowled in the rain. Rain soaked me, freshening the mud. I tried not to breathe as a horse stopped beside me. I recognized his voice as he spoke into the night.

"He can't make it to the welsh boarder," Wessex ordered, "We can't follow him if he crosses the valley without declaring war. We have less than a day to find him! GO!" he roared. I winced and waited for a moment until the hooves had left, thundering through the night. I lay back and allowed myself to catch my breath, just for a moment before I stood again. I then began to run again, I only had to make it across the valley and I knew exactly where that was.

My father once took us there. He told us about the welsh. About how they had a so called wizard over there who tricked the king. Merlin had taken the kings son and then put an illness over him. Needless to say the king died and no one knew what happened to the prince. The kingdom was run by an archbishop who waited for the prince to return.

My father said that we were never to cross that valley or we would surely die. I would most likely still die when I entered the Welsh's kingdom but as I had told the king, desperate people do desperate things.

I ran, I ran from the demons that chased me. By morning the rain had stopped and the light had returned. I could hear them, always gaining on me. I paused for a moment to rub more mud on me before stumbling up and continuing on. It was around noon when I finally saw the valley.

I was beginning to see things so at first I thought it was a hallucination but then I burst through the trees. The sun beat down on me as I broke out into a full on sprint.

The kings head bounced against my leg and as I ran I wondered if it would still be recognizable. Sweat trickled down my face and as the horses broke from the trees my body gave me a last kick of adrenaline.

When I hit the next tree line I kept running until my body simply gave out. I tripped, crashed to the ground and vomited. I lay there and listened to Wessex cursing.

"Arthur!" he screamed, "Get out here now and face me like a man!" I didn't feel very manly, lying there in my own vomit. I didn't even feel girly, kind of insane to be honest.

"You will pay Arthur!" he bellowed, I could imagine spittle flying from his lips, "If I ever hear your name again, I will come for you! I will kill you with my own two hands. You will rue the day your pathetic body entered this world! If it's the last thing I do, I will kill you Arthur Fitzpaula! I swear to it on my fathers grave!" Did it matter that I was the one who made him able to swear on his father's grave? I wasn't one for swearing on things.

What did it matter? The world was going black anyways...

~

'Water,' I thought as my eyes flickered open. It was the only things I could possibly think. First of all because it hit my face and secondly because of the thirsty that dig through me.

"Water," I rasped out. Someone thrust up my head and a bucket was placed to my lips. I drank it all, threw it up and then drank more. That time I stopped when I was full. Two sets of hands pulled me to my feet. The world began to come into focus, I could see trees, hear the birds singing.

"Who are you?" one of the men asked. I looked up at him and noticed he was a knight, the man on my left was too. I swallowed and gathered my thoughts.

"I have a present for your leader," I told them, "I need to see him." The knights made eye contact.

"Who are you?" they repeated.

"I need to see your leader," I said, "I have a gift of sorts for him. But I will spoil so we need to hurry."

"What is it?" the other asked, seeing I wasn't open to who I was. I looked at him.

"A head," I stated, "The king's head to be precise."